Attaching electronic components to interactive textiles

ABSTRACT

This document describes techniques and apparatuses for attaching electronic components to interactive textiles. In various implementations, an interactive textile that includes conductive thread woven into the interactive textile is received. The conductive thread includes a conductive wire (e.g., a copper wire) that that is twisted, braided, or wrapped with one or more flexible threads (e.g., polyester or cotton threads). A fabric stripping process is applied to the interactive textile to strip away fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible threads to expose the conductive wire in a window of the interactive textile. After exposing the conductive wires in the window of the interactive textile, an electronic component (e.g., a flexible circuit board) is attached to the exposed conductive wire of the conductive thread in the window of the interactive textile.

PRIORITY APPLICATION

This application is a non-provisional of and claims priority under 35U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 62/167,168, titled“Attaching Electronic Components to Interactive Textiles,” and filed onMay 27, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Currently, producing touch sensors can be complicated and expensive,especially if the touch sensor is intended to be light, flexible, oradaptive to various different kinds of use. Conventional touch pads, forexample, are generally non-flexible and relatively costly to produce andto integrate into objects.

SUMMARY

This document describes techniques and apparatuses for attachingelectronic components to interactive textiles. An interactive textileincludes conductive thread woven into the interactive textile to form acapacitive touch sensor that is configured to detect touch-input. Theinteractive textile can process the touch-input to generate touch datathat is useable to initiate functionality at various remote devices thatare wirelessly coupled to the interactive textile. For example, theinteractive textile may aid users in controlling volume on a stereo,pausing a movie playing on a television, or selecting a webpage on adesktop computer. Due to the flexibility of textiles, the interactivetextile may be easily integrated within flexible objects, such asclothing, handbags, fabric casings, hats, and so forth.

In various implementations, an interactive textile that includesconductive thread woven into the interactive textile is received. Theconductive thread includes a conductive wire (e.g., a copper wire) thatthat is twisted, braided, or wrapped with one or more flexible threads(e.g., polyester or cotton threads). A fabric stripping process isapplied to the interactive textile to strip away fabric of theinteractive textile and the flexible threads to open up a window in theinteractive textile in which the conductive wire is exposed.

In some implementations, the fabric stripping process applies a laserbeam to the interactive textile to ablate the fabric of the interactivetextile and the flexible threads in the window of the interactivetextile. An absorption of the laser is low to cause the laser beam toablate the fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible threadswithout ablating the conductive wire. Alternately, the fabric strippingprocess may apply a heating element to the interactive textile to burnor melt the fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible threadsin the window of the interactive textile. In this case, a temperature ofthe heating element is configured to melt or burn the fabric of theinteractive textile and the flexible thread without melting or burningthe conductive wire.

After exposing the conductive wires in the window of the interactivetextile, an electronic component (e.g., a flexible circuit board) isattached to the exposed conductive wire of the conductive thread in thewindow of the interactive textile. To do so, electronic plates of theelectronic component are aligned with the exposed conductive wire, andheat is applied to cause the electronic plates of the electroniccomponent to connect to the exposed conductive wire.

This summary is provided to introduce simplified concepts concerningattaching electronic components to interactive textiles, which isfurther described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is notintended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter,nor is it intended for use in determining the scope of the claimedsubject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of techniques and devices for gest attaching electroniccomponents to interactive textiles are described with reference to thefollowing drawings. The same numbers are used throughout the drawings toreference like features and components:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example environment in which techniquesusing, and an objects including, an interactive textile may be embodied.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example system that includes an interactivetextile and a gesture manager.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an interactive textile in accordancewith one or more implementations.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example environment in which a fabric strippingprocess to expose conductive wires of an interactive textile may beimplemented.

FIG. 5 which illustrates an example environment in which an attachmentprocess to attach an electronic component to exposed conductive wires ofan interactive textile may be implemented

FIG. 6 illustrates an example system in which a textile machine can beimplemented to attach an electronic component to an interactive textile.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example method of attaching an electroniccomponent to an interactive textile.

FIG. 8 illustrates various components of an example computing systemthat can be implemented as any type of client, server, and/or computingdevice as described with reference to the previous FIGS. 1-7 toimplement attaching electronic components to interactive textiles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Overview

An interactive textile includes conductive thread woven into theinteractive textile to form a capacitive touch sensor that is configuredto detect touch-input. The interactive textile can process thetouch-input to generate touch data that is useable to initiatefunctionality at various remote devices that are wirelessly coupled tothe interactive textile. For example, the interactive textile may aidusers in controlling volume on a stereo, pausing a movie playing on atelevision, or selecting a webpage on a desktop computer. Due to theflexibility of textiles, the interactive textile may be easilyintegrated within flexible objects, such as clothing, handbags, fabriccasings, hats, and so forth.

In order to sense multi-touch input the conductive thread must beconnected to electronic components, such as flexible circuit boards. Onepossible approach is to specially make the interactive textiles withloose conductive threads, known as “floats”, extending from the fabric.At the end of the textile manufacturing process, the electroniccomponents can then be connected to the floats. However, this method ofconnecting the electronic components requires the manufacturer to designproducts precisely, keeping in mind where the floats will connect to theelectronics. Designers and manufacturers would like to be able to designand manufacture interactive textiles without concern as to where theelectronic components are to be connected to the textiles.

In various implementations, a fabric stripping process is applied to aninteractive textile to enable electronic components to be attached toconductive threads that are fully woven into interactive textile 102. Aninteractive textile that includes conductive thread woven into theinteractive textile is received. The conductive thread includes aconductive wire (e.g., a copper wire) that that is twisted, braided, orwrapped with one or more flexible threads (e.g., polyester or cottonthreads). A fabric stripping process is applied to the interactivetextile to strip away fabric of the interactive textile and the flexiblethreads to open up a window in the interactive textile in which theconductive wire is exposed.

In some implementations, the fabric stripping process applies a laserbeam to the interactive textile to ablate the fabric of the interactivetextile and the flexible threads in the window of the interactivetextile. An absorption of the laser is low to cause the laser beam toablate the fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible threadswithout ablating the conductive wire. Alternately, the fabric strippingprocess may apply a heating element to the interactive textile to burnor melt the fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible threadsin the window of the interactive textile. In this case, a temperature ofthe heating element is configured to melt or burn the fabric of theinteractive textile and the flexible thread without melting or burningthe conductive wire.

After exposing the conductive wires in the window of the interactivetextile, an electronic component (e.g., a flexible circuit board) isattached to the exposed conductive wire of the conductive thread in thewindow of the interactive textile. To do so, electronic plates of theelectronic component are aligned with the exposed conductive wire, andheat is applied to cause the electronic plates of the electroniccomponent to connect to the exposed conductive wire.

Notably, the described techniques enable interactive textiles to be madein a more standard way without concern for designing different sizes orproducts so that the electronic components can be connected in a certainarea of the textile. Doing so frees designers of interactive textiles tocreate the interactive textiles and then to go in and attach electroniccomponents wherever they need them, instead of designing the textilelayout with a specific connection point in mind.

Example Environment

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example environment 100 in whichtechniques using, and objects including, an interactive textile may beembodied. Environment 100 includes an interactive textile 102, which isshown as being integrated within various objects 104. Interactivetextile 102 is a textile that is configured to sense multi-touch input.As described herein, a textile corresponds to any type of flexible wovenmaterial consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibers, oftenreferred to as thread or yarn. Textiles may be formed by weaving,knitting, crocheting, knotting, or pressing threads together.

In environment 100, objects 104 include “flexible” objects, such as ashirt 104-1, a hat 104-2, and a handbag 104-3. It is to be noted,however, that interactive textile 102 may be integrated within any typeof flexible object made from fabric or a similar flexible material, suchas articles of clothing, blankets, shower curtains, towels, sheets, bedspreads, or fabric casings of furniture, to name just a few. Interactivetextile 102 may be integrated within flexible objects 104 in a varietyof different ways, including weaving, sewing, gluing, and so forth.

In this example, objects 104 further include “hard” objects, such as aplastic cup 104-4 and a hard smart phone casing 104-5. It is to benoted, however, that hard objects 104 may include any type of “hard” or“rigid” object made from non-flexible or semi-flexible materials, suchas plastic, metal, aluminum, and so on. For example, hard objects 104may also include plastic chairs, water bottles, plastic balls, or carparts, to name just a few. Interactive textile 102 may be integratedwithin hard objects 104 using a variety of different manufacturingprocesses. In one or more implementations, injection molding is used tointegrate interactive textiles 102 into hard objects 104.

Interactive textile 102 enables a user to control object 104 that theinteractive textile 102 is integrated with, or to control a variety ofother computing devices 106 via a network 108. Computing devices 106 areillustrated with various non-limiting example devices: server 106-1,smart phone 106-2, laptop 106-3, computing spectacles 106-4, television106-5, camera 106-6, tablet 106-7, desktop 106-8, and smart watch 106-9,though other devices may also be used, such as home automation andcontrol systems, sound or entertainment systems, home appliances,security systems, netbooks, and e-readers. Note that computing device106 can be wearable (e.g., computing spectacles and smart watches),non-wearable but mobile (e.g., laptops and tablets), or relativelyimmobile (e.g., desktops and servers).

Network 108 includes one or more of many types of wireless or partlywireless communication networks, such as a local-area-network (LAN), awireless local-area-network (WLAN), a personal-area-network (PAN), awide-area-network (WAN), an intranet, the Internet, a peer-to-peernetwork, point-to-point network, a mesh network, and so forth.

Interactive textile 102 can interact with computing devices 106 bytransmitting touch data through network 108. Computing device 106 usesthe touch data to control computing device 106 or applications atcomputing device 106. As an example, consider that interactive textile102 integrated at shirt 104-1 may be configured to control the user'ssmart phone 106-2 in the user's pocket, television 106-5 in the user'shome, smart watch 106-9 on the user's wrist, or various other appliancesin the user's house, such as thermostats, lights, music, and so forth.For example, the user may be able to swipe up or down on interactivetextile 102 integrated within the user's shirt 104-1 to cause the volumeon television 106-5 to go up or down, to cause the temperaturecontrolled by a thermostat in the user's house to increase or decrease,or to turn on and off lights in the user's house. Note that any type oftouch, tap, swipe, hold, or stroke gesture may be recognized byinteractive textile 102.

In more detail, consider FIG. 2 which illustrates an example system 200that includes an interactive textile and a gesture manager. In system200, interactive textile 102 is integrated in an object 104, which maybe implemented as a flexible object (e.g., shirt 104-1, hat 104-2, orhandbag 104-3) or a hard object (e.g., plastic cup 104-4 or smart phonecasing 104-5).

Interactive textile 102 is configured to sense multi-touch-input from auser when one or more fingers of the user's hand touch interactivetextile 102. Interactive textile 102 may also be configured to sensefull-hand touch input from a user, such as when an entire hand of theuser touches or swipes interactive textile 102. To enable this,interactive textile 102 includes a capacitive touch sensor 202 that iscoupled to one or more electronic components 203, such as flexiblecircuit boards, sensors, heating elements, and so forth. In some cases,electronic component 203 may include a textile controller 204 and apower source 206.

Capacitive touch sensor 202 is configured to sense touch-input when anobject, such as a user's finger, hand, or a conductive stylus,approaches or makes contact with capacitive touch sensor 202. Unlikeconventional hard touch pads, capacitive touch sensor 202 uses aconductive thread 208 woven into interactive textile 102 to sensetouch-input. Thus, capacitive touch sensor 202 does not alter theflexibility of interactive textile 102, which enables interactivetextile 102 to be easily integrated within objects 104.

Power source 206 is coupled to textile controller 204 to provide powerto textile controller 204, and may be implemented as a small battery.Textile controller 204 is coupled to capacitive touch sensor 202. Forexample, wires from the conductive threads 208 may be connected totextile controller 204 using flexible PCB, creping, gluing withconductive glue, soldering, and so forth.

In one or more implementations, electronic components 203 may alsoinclude one or more output devices, such as light sources (e.g., LED's),displays, or speakers. In this case, the output devices may also beconnected to textile controller 204 to enable textile controller 204 tocontrol their output.

Textile controller 204 is implemented with circuitry that is configuredto detect the location of the touch-input on conductive thread 208, aswell as motion of the touch-input. When an object, such as a user'sfinger, touches capacitive touch sensor 202, the position of the touchcan be determined by controller 204 by detecting a change in capacitanceon the grid of conductive thread 208. Textile controller 204 uses thetouch-input to generate touch data usable to control computing device102. For example, the touch-input can be used to determine variousgestures, such as single-finger touches (e.g., touches, taps, andholds), multi-finger touches (e.g., two-finger touches, two-finger taps,two-finger holds, and pinches), single-finger and multi-finger swipes(e.g., swipe up, swipe down, swipe left, swipe right), and full-handinteractions (e.g., touching the textile with a user's entire hand,covering textile with the user's entire hand, pressing the textile withthe user's entire hand, palm touches, and rolling, twisting, or rotatingthe user's hand while touching the textile). Capacitive touch sensor 202may be implemented as a self-capacitance sensor, or a projectivecapacitance sensor, which is discussed in more detail below.

Object 104 may also include network interfaces 210 for communicatingdata, such as touch data, over wired, wireless, or optical networks tocomputing devices 106. By way of example and not limitation, networkinterfaces 210 may communicate data over a local-area-network (LAN), awireless local-area-network (WLAN), a personal-area-network (PAN) (e.g.,Bluetooth™), a wide-area-network (WAN), an intranet, the Internet, apeer-to-peer network, point-to-point network, a mesh network, and thelike (e.g., through network 108 of FIG. 1).

In this example, computing device 106 includes one or more computerprocessors 212 and computer-readable storage media (storage media) 214.Storage media 214 includes applications 216 and/or an operating system(not shown) embodied as computer-readable instructions executable bycomputer processors 212 to provide, in some cases, functionalitiesdescribed herein. Storage media 214 also includes a gesture manager 218(described below).

Computing device 106 may also include a display 220 and networkinterfaces 222 for communicating data over wired, wireless, or opticalnetworks. For example, network interfaces 222 can receive touch datasensed by interactive textile 102 from network interfaces 210 of object104. By way of example and not limitation, network interface 222 maycommunicate data over a local-area-network (LAN), a wirelesslocal-area-network (WLAN), a personal-area-network (PAN) (e.g.,Bluetooth™), a wide-area-network (WAN), an intranet, the Internet, apeer-to-peer network, point-to-point network, a mesh network, and thelike.

Gesture manager 218 is capable of interacting with applications 216 andinteractive textile 102 effective to activate various functionalitiesassociated with computing device 106 and/or applications 216 throughtouch-input (e.g., gestures) received by interactive textile 102.Gesture manager 218 may be implemented at a computing device 106 that islocal to object 104, or remote from object 104.

Having discussed a system in which interactive textile 102 can beimplemented, now consider a more-detailed discussion of interactivetextile 102.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example 300 of interactive textile 102 inaccordance with one or more implementations. In this example,interactive textile 102 includes non-conductive threads 302 woven withconductive threads 208 to form interactive textile 102. Non-conductivethreads 302 may correspond to any type of non-conductive thread, fiber,or fabric, such as cotton, wool, silk, nylon, polyester, and so forth.

At 304, a zoomed-in view of conductive thread 208 is illustrated.Conductive thread 208 includes a conductive wire 306 that is twisted,braided, or wrapped with a flexible thread 308. Twisting conductive wire306 with flexible thread 308 causes conductive thread 208 to be flexibleand stretchy, which enables conductive thread 208 to be easily wovenwith non-conductive threads 302 to form interactive textile 102.

In one or more implementations, conductive wire 306 is a thin copperwire. It is to be noted, however, that conductive wire 306 may also beimplemented using other materials, such as silver, gold, or othermaterials coated with a conductive polymer. Flexible thread 308 may beimplemented as any type of flexible thread or fiber, such as cotton,wool, silk, nylon, polyester, and so forth.

In one or more implementations, conductive thread 208 includes aconductive core that includes at least one conductive wire 306 (e.g.,one or more copper wires) and a cover layer, configured to cover theconductive core, that is constructed from flexible threads 308. In somecases, conductive wire 306 of the conductive core is insulated.Alternately, conductive wire 306 of the conductive core is notinsulated.

In one or more implementations, the conductive core may be implementedusing a single, straight, conductive wire 306. Alternately, theconductive core may be implemented using a conductive wire 306 and oneor more flexible threads 308. For example, the conductive core may beformed by twisting one or more flexible threads 308 (e.g., silk threads,polyester threads, or cotton threads) with conductive wire 306 (e.g., asshown at 304 of FIG. 3), or by wrapping flexible threads 308 aroundconductive wire 306.

In one or more implementations, the conductive core includes flexiblethreads 308 braided with conductive wire 306. A variety of differenttypes of flexible threads 308 may be utilized to braid with conductivewire 306, such as polyester or cotton, in order to form the conductivecore. In one or more implementations, however, silk threads are used forthe braided construction of the conductive core. Silk threads areslightly twisted which enables the silk threads to “grip” or hold on toconductive wire 306. Thus, using silk threads may increase the speed atwhich the braided conductive core can be manufactured. In contrast, aflexible thread like polyester is slippery, and thus does not “grip” theconductive wire as well as silk. Thus, a slippery thread is moredifficult to braid with the conductive wire, which may slow down themanufacturing process.

An additional benefit of using silk threads to create the braidedconductive core is that silk is both thin and strong, which enables themanufacture of a thin conductive core that will not break during theinteraction textile weaving process. A thin conductive core isbeneficial because it enables the manufacturer to create whateverthickness they want for conductive thread 208 (e.g., thick or thin) whencovering the conductive core with the second layer.

After forming the conductive core, a cover layer is constructed to coverthe conductive core. In one or more implementations, the cover layer isconstructed by wrapping flexible threads (e.g., polyester threads,cotton threads, wool threads, or silk threads) around the conductivecore. For example, the cover layer may be formed by wrapping polyesterthreads around the conductive core at approximately 1900 turns per yard.

In one or more implementations, the cover layer includes flexiblethreads braided around the conductive core. The braided cover layer maybe formed using the same type of braiding as described above. Any typeof flexible thread 308 may be used for the braided cover layer. Thethickness of the flexible thread and the number of flexible threads thatare braided around the conductive core can be selected based on thedesired thickness of conductive thread 208. For example, if conductivethread 208 is intended to be used for denim, a thicker flexible thread(e.g., cotton) and/or a greater number of flexible threads may be usedto form the cover layer.

In one or more implementations, conductive thread 208 is constructedwith a “double-braided” structure. In this case, the conductive core isformed by braiding flexible threads, such as silk, with a conductivewire (e.g., copper), as described above. Then, the cover layer is formedby braiding flexible threads (e.g., silk, cotton, or polyester) aroundthe braided conductive core. The double-braided structure is strong, andthus is unlikely to break when being pulled during the weaving process.For example, when the double-braided conductive thread is pulled, thebraided structure contracts and forces the braided core of copper tocontract also with makes the whole structure stronger. Further, thedouble-braided structure is soft and looks like normal yarn, as opposedto a cable, which is important for aesthetics and feel.

Interactive textile 102 can be formed cheaply and efficiently, using anyconventional weaving process (e.g., jacquard weaving or 3D-weaving),which involves interlacing a set of longer threads (called the warp)with a set of crossing threads (called the weft). Weaving may beimplemented on a frame or machine known as a loom, of which there are anumber of types. Thus, a loom can weave non-conductive threads 302 withconductive threads 208 to create interactive textile 102.

In example 300, conductive thread 208 is woven into interactive textile102 to form a grid that includes a set of substantially parallelconductive threads 208 and a second set of substantially parallelconductive threads 208 that crosses the first set of conductive threadsto form the grid. In this example, the first set of conductive threads208 are oriented horizontally and the second set of conductive threads208 are oriented vertically, such that the first set of conductivethreads 208 are positioned substantially orthogonal to the second set ofconductive threads 208. It is to be appreciated, however, thatconductive threads 208 may be oriented such that crossing conductivethreads 208 are not orthogonal to each other. For example, in some casescrossing conductive threads 208 may form a diamond-shaped grid. Whileconductive threads 208 are illustrated as being spaced out from eachother in FIG. 3, it is to be noted that conductive threads 208 may beweaved very closely together. For example, in some cases two or threeconductive threads may be weaved closely together in each direction.Further, in some cases the conductive threads may be oriented asparallel sensing lines that do not cross or intersect with each other.

Conductive wire 306 may be insulated to prevent direct contact betweencrossing conductive threads 208. To do so, conductive wire 306 may becoated with a material such as enamel or nylon. Alternately, rather thaninsulating conductive wire 306, interactive textile may be generatedwith three separate textile layers to ensure that crossing conductivethreads 208 do not make direct contact with each other. The threetextile layers may be combined (e.g., by sewing or gluing the layerstogether) to form interactive textile 102. In this example, a firsttextile layer may include horizontal conductive threads 208 and a secondtextile layer may includes vertical conductive threads 208. A thirdtextile layer, that does not include any conductive threads, may bepositioned between the first and second textile layers to preventvertical conductive threads from making direct contact with horizontalconductive threads 208.

In one or more implementations, interactive textile 102 includes a toptextile layer and a bottom textile layer. The top textile layer includesconductive threads 208 woven into the top textile layer, and the bottomtextile layer also includes conductive threads woven into the bottomtextile layer. When the top textile layer is combined with the bottomtextile layer, the conductive threads from each layer form capacitivetouch sensor 202. The top textile layer and the bottom textile layer maybe combined in a variety of different ways, such as by weaving, sewing,or gluing the layers together to form interactive textile 102. In one ormore implementations, the top and bottom textile layers are combinedusing a jacquard weaving process or any type of 3D-weaving process. Whenthe top and bottom textile layers are combined, the conductive threadsof the top layer couple to the conductive threads of the bottom layer toform capacitive touch sensor 202, as described above.

During operation, capacitive touch sensor 202 may be configured todetermine positions of touch-input on the grid of conductive thread 208using self-capacitance sensing or projective capacitive sensing.

When configured as a self-capacitance sensor, textile controller 204charges crossing conductive threads 208 (e.g., horizontal and verticalconductive threads) by applying a control signal (e.g., a sine signal)to each conductive thread 208. When an object, such as the user'sfinger, touches the grid of conductive thread 208, the conductivethreads 208 that are touched are grounded, which changes the capacitance(e.g., increases or decreases the capacitance) on the touched conductivethreads 208.

Textile controller 204 uses the change in capacitance to identify thepresence of the object. To do so, textile controller 204 detects aposition of the touch-input by detecting which horizontal conductivethread 208 is touched, and which vertical conductive thread 208 istouched by detecting changes in capacitance of each respectiveconductive thread 208. Textile controller 204 uses the intersection ofthe crossing conductive threads 208 that are touched to determine theposition of the touch-input on capacitive touch sensor 202. For example,textile controller 204 can determine touch data by determining theposition of each touch as X,Y coordinates on the grid of conductivethread 208.

When implemented as a self-capacitance sensor, “ghosting” may occur whenmulti-touch input is received. Consider, for example, that a usertouches the grid of conductive thread 208 with two fingers. When thisoccurs, textile controller 204 determines X and Y coordinates for eachof the two touches. However, textile controller 204 may be unable todetermine how to match each X coordinate to its corresponding Ycoordinate. For example, if a first touch has the coordinates X1, Y1 anda second touch has the coordinates X4,Y4, textile controller 204 mayalso detect “ghost” coordinates X1, Y4 and X4,Y1.

In one or more implementations, textile controller 204 is configured todetect “areas” of touch-input corresponding to two or more touch-inputpoints on the grid of conductive thread 208. Conductive threads 208 maybe weaved closely together such that when an object touches the grid ofconductive thread 208, the capacitance will be changed for multiplehorizontal conductive threads 208 and/or multiple vertical conductivethreads 208. For example, a single touch with a single finger maygenerate the coordinates X1,Y1 and X2,Y1. Thus, textile controller 204may be configured to detect touch-input if the capacitance is changedfor multiple horizontal conductive threads 208 and/or multiple verticalconductive threads 208. Note that this removes the effect of ghostingbecause textile controller 204 will not detect touch-input if twosingle-point touches are detected which are spaced apart.

Alternately, when implemented as a projective capacitance sensor,textile controller 204 charges a single set of conductive threads 208(e.g., horizontal conductive threads 208) by applying a control signal(e.g., a sine signal) to the single set of conductive threads 208. Then,textile controller 204 senses changes in capacitance in the other set ofconductive threads 208 (e.g., vertical conductive threads 208).

In this implementation, vertical conductive threads 208 are not chargedand thus act as a virtual ground. However, when horizontal conductivethreads 208 are charged, the horizontal conductive threads capacitivelycouple to vertical conductive threads 208. Thus, when an object, such asthe user's finger, touches the grid of conductive thread 208, thecapacitance changes on the vertical conductive threads (e.g., increasesor decreases). Textile controller 204 uses the change in capacitance onvertical conductive threads 208 to identify the presence of the object.To do so, textile controller 204 detects a position of the touch-inputby scanning vertical conductive threads 208 to detect changes incapacitance. Textile controller 204 determines the position of thetouch-input as the intersection point between the vertical conductivethread 208 with the changed capacitance, and the horizontal conductivethread 208 on which the control signal was transmitted. For example,textile controller 204 can determine touch data by determining theposition of each touch as X,Y coordinates on the grid of conductivethread 208.

Whether implemented as a self-capacitance sensor or a projectivecapacitance sensor, capacitive sensor 208 is configured to communicatethe touch data to gesture manager 218 to enable gesture manager 218 todetermine gestures based on the touch data, which can be used to controlobject 104, computing device 106, or applications 216 at computingdevice 106.

Gesture manager 218 can be implemented to recognize a variety ofdifferent types of gestures, such as touches, taps, swipes, holds, andcovers made to interactive textile 102. To recognize the variousdifferent types of gestures, gesture manager 218 is configured todetermine a duration of the touch, swipe, or hold (e.g., one second ortwo seconds), a number of the touches, swipes, or holds (e.g., a singletap, a double tap, or a triple tap), a number of fingers of the touch,swipe, or hold (e.g., a one finger-touch or swipe, a two-finger touch orswipe, or a three-finger touch or swipe), a frequency of the touch, anda dynamic direction of a touch or swipe (e.g., up, down, left, right).With regards to holds, gesture manager 218 can also determine an area ofcapacitive touch sensor 202 of interactive textile 102 that is beingheld (e.g., top, bottom, left, right, or top and bottom. Thus, gesturemanager 218 can recognize a variety of different types of holds, such asa cover, a cover and hold, a five finger hold, a five finger cover andhold, a three finger pinch and hold, and so forth.

Attaching Electronic Components to Interactive Textiles

In order to sense multi-touch input, conductive threads 208 must beconnected to electronic components 203, such as flexible circuit boards.When conductive thread 208 is woven into interactive textile 102,however, the conductive wire 306 may not be visible and cannot beaccessed because they are wrapped with flexible threads 308 and woveninto the fabric of the textile. In the past, therefore, the interactivetextiles were specially made to have loose conductive threads, known as“floats”, extending from the fabric. At the end of the textilemanufacturing process, the electronic components could then be connectedto the floats. However, this method of connecting the electroniccomponents required the manufacturer to design products precisely,keeping in mind where the floats would connect to the electronics.Designers and manufacturers would like to be able to design andmanufacture interactive textiles without concern as to where theelectronic components are to be connected to the textiles.

In various implementations, a fabric stripping process is applied tointeractive textile 102 to enable electronic components 203 to beattached to conductive threads 208 that are fully woven into interactivetextile 102. Consider, for example, FIG. 4 which illustrates an exampleenvironment 400 in which a fabric stripping process to expose conductivewires of an interactive textile may be implemented.

Environment 400 includes a fabric stripping component 402, which mayinclude a laser 404 and/or a heating element 406. Fabric strippingcomponent 402 is configured to strip away the fabric of interactivetextile 102 around conductive threads 208, and to strip away flexiblethreads 308 of conductive threads 208 without removing the conductivewires 306. Thus, at the end of the fabric stripping process, a window408 is opened in the interactive textile in which conductive wires 306are exposed. Note that in window 408, the fabric of interactive textile102 and flexible thread 308 of conductive thread 208 is removed, and allthat remains is exposed conductive wire 306. In this example, theexposed conductive wires 306 are shown as parallel lines, however, theexposed wires could also be a grid, or another type of pattern such as adiamond.

In one or more implementations, fabric stripping component 402 uses alaser ablation process to expose conductive wires 306 in window 408 ofinteractive textile 102. Laser ablation is the process of removingmaterial by irradiating it with a laser beam. At low laser flux, thematerial is heated by the absorbed laser energy and evaporates orsublimates. At high laser flux, the material is typically converted to aplasma. Laser ablation may include techniques that remove material witha pulsed laser, as well as techniques in which the material is ablatedwith a continuous wave laser beam if the laser intensity is high enough.

Fabric stripping component 402 can apply a focused laser beam of laser404 to window 408 to ablate flexible threads 308 and the fabric oftextile 102 in window 408 without ablating the conductive wire 306. Theabsorption of laser 404 is low which enables the focused laser beam toablate the fabric of interactive textile 102 and flexible thread 308without ablating the conductive wire 306. For example, the absorption ofthe laser may be configured to ablate materials such as cotton orpolyester without ablating metals such as copper or silver.

Alternately, fabric stripping component 402 may use a heating process tomelt or burn away the fabric of interactive textile 102 and flexiblethread 308 to expose conductive wires 306 in window 408. For example,fabric stripping component 402 can apply heating element 406 tointeractive textile 102 to melt or burn away the fabric of textile 102and flexible thread 308 in window 408. A temperature of heating element406 is configured to melt or burn the fabric of interactive textile 102and flexible thread 308 without melting or burning conductive wire 306.In one or more implementations, heating element 406 comprises a hot bar,although other types of heating elements could also be utilized.

After exposing conductive wires 306 in window 408, an attachment processis applied to attach an electronic component 203 to the exposedconductive wires. As an example, consider FIG. 5 which illustrates anexample environment 500 in which an attachment process to attach anelectronic component to exposed conductive wires of an interactivetextile may be implemented.

Environment 500 includes an attachment component 502, which includes ahot plate 504. Attachment component 502 is configured to attach anelectronic component 203 (e.g., a flexible circuit board) to the exposedconductive wires 306 of interactive textile 102 in window 408.

Attachment component 502 receives interactive textile 102 from fabricstripping component 402 after one or more windows 408 have been openedup in the textile, and places electronic component 203 on top of theopened window 408 of interactive textile 102 so that electronic platesof electronic component 203 are aligned with the exposed conductivewires 306. In one or more implementations, the electronic plates ofelectronic component 203 may be prepped with solder.

In one or more implementations, attachment component 502 connects aspecially prepared connection tape 506 to the exposed conductive wires306 in window 408 of interactive textile 102. Connection tape 506 may beprepared with both electrical pads pre-tinned with solder and withheat-activated adhesive.

After electronic component 203 is placed on top of opened window 408,attachment component 502 applies heat via hot plate 504 by pressing hotplate 504 against the connection so that the solder of the connectiontape, or the solder applied to the electronic plates of electroniccomponent 203, melts and connects to the exposed conductive wires 306 ofinteractive textile 102. At the same time, the application of the hotplate causes a mechanical connection to be formed between the exposedconductive wire 306 and electronic component 203 via the heat-activatedadhesive of connection tape 506.

While FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a single window 408, it is to beappreciated that any number of windows 408 may be opened up ininteractive textile 102 to enable any number of electronic components203 to be attached to interactive textile 102 at a variety of differentpositions.

In one or more implementations, the fabric stripping process and theattachment process is implemented by a machine. Consider, for example,FIG. 6 which illustrates an example system 600 in which a textilemachine 602 can be implemented to attach an electronic component tointeractive textile 102.

Textile machine 602 includes a controller 604 which may be implementedin computer-executable instructions, and configured to control textilemachine 602 to attach electronic component 203 to interactive textile102. Textile machine 602 further includes fabric stripping component 402and attachment component 502.

Controller 604 is configured to control machinery of textile machine 602to position interactive textiles 102 proximate fabric strippingcomponent 402. Then, controller 604 controls the fabric strippingcomponent to strip away the fabric of interactive textile 102 aroundconductive threads 208, and to strip away the flexible threads 308 toopen up a window 408 in which the conductive wires 306 are exposed, asdescribed with regards to FIG. 4 above. After window 408 is opened up ininteractive textile 102, controller 604 controls attachment component502 to attach electronic component 203 to the exposed wires 306 in theopened window of interactive textile 102, as described above withregards to FIG. 5.

Example Methods

FIG. 7 illustrates an example method 700 of attaching an electroniccomponent to an interactive textile. This method is shown as sets ofblocks that specify operations performed but are not necessarily limitedto the order or combinations shown for performing the operations by therespective blocks. The techniques are not limited to performance by oneentity or multiple entities operating on one device.

At 702, an interactive textile that includes conductive threads woveninto the interactive textile is received. For example, fabric strippingcomponent 402 receives interactive textile 102. Interactive textile 102includes conductive threads 208 woven into the interactive textile,where each conductive thread 208 includes a conductive wire 306 that istwisted, braided, or wrapped with one or more flexible threads 308.

At 704, fabric of the interactive textile and flexible threads of theconductive threads are stripped away to open up a window in theinteractive textile in which conductive wires of the conductive threadsare exposed. For example, fabric stripping component 402 strips awayfabric of interactive textile 102 and flexible threads 308 of conductivethreads 208 to open up window 408 in interactive textile 102 in whichconductive wires 306 are exposed.

At 706, an electronic component is attached to the exposed conductivewires in the window of the interactive textile. For example, attachmentcomponent 502 attaches electronic component 203 to exposed conductivewires 306 in window 408 of interactive textile 102.

Example Computing System

FIG. 8 illustrates various components of an example computing system 800that can be implemented as any type of client, server, and/or computingdevice as described with reference to the previous FIGS. 1-7 toimplement attaching electronic components to interactive textiles. Inembodiments, computing system 800 can be implemented as one or acombination of a wired and/or wireless wearable device, System-on-Chip(SoC), and/or as another type of device or portion thereof. Computingsystem 800 may also be associated with a user (e.g., a person) and/or anentity that operates the device such that a device describes logicaldevices that include users, software, firmware, and/or a combination ofdevices.

Computing system 800 includes communication devices 802 that enablewired and/or wireless communication of device data 804 (e.g., receiveddata, data that is being received, data scheduled for broadcast, datapackets of the data, etc.). Device data 804 or other device content caninclude configuration settings of the device, media content stored onthe device, and/or information associated with a user of the device.Media content stored on computing system 800 can include any type ofaudio, video, and/or image data. Computing system 800 includes one ormore data inputs 806 via which any type of data, media content, and/orinputs can be received, such as human utterances, touch data generatedby interactive textile 102, user-selectable inputs (explicit orimplicit), messages, music, television media content, recorded videocontent, and any other type of audio, video, and/or image data receivedfrom any content and/or data source.

Computing system 800 also includes communication interfaces 808, whichcan be implemented as any one or more of a serial and/or parallelinterface, a wireless interface, any type of network interface, a modem,and as any other type of communication interface. Communicationinterfaces 808 provide a connection and/or communication links betweencomputing system 800 and a communication network by which otherelectronic, computing, and communication devices communicate data withcomputing system 800.

Computing system 800 includes one or more processors 810 (e.g., any ofmicroprocessors, controllers, and the like), which process variouscomputer-executable instructions to control the operation of computingsystem 800 and to enable techniques for, or in which can be embodied,interactive textiles. Alternatively or in addition, computing system 800can be implemented with any one or combination of hardware, firmware, orfixed logic circuitry that is implemented in connection with processingand control circuits which are generally identified at 812. Although notshown, computing system 800 can include a system bus or data transfersystem that couples the various components within the device. A systembus can include any one or combination of different bus structures, suchas a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, a universalserial bus, and/or a processor or local bus that utilizes any of avariety of bus architectures.

Computing system 800 also includes computer-readable media 814, such asone or more memory devices that enable persistent and/or non-transitorydata storage (i.e., in contrast to mere signal transmission), examplesof which include random access memory (RAM), non-volatile memory (e.g.,any one or more of a read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, EPROM,EEPROM, etc.), and a disk storage device. A disk storage device may beimplemented as any type of magnetic or optical storage device, such as ahard disk drive, a recordable and/or rewriteable compact disc (CD), anytype of a digital versatile disc (DVD), and the like. Computing system800 can also include a mass storage media device 816.

Computer-readable media 814 provides data storage mechanisms to storedevice data 804, as well as various device applications 818 and anyother types of information and/or data related to operational aspects ofcomputing system 800. For example, an operating system 820 can bemaintained as a computer application with computer-readable media 814and executed on processors 810. Device applications 818 may include adevice manager, such as any form of a control application, softwareapplication, signal-processing and control module, code that is nativeto a particular device, a hardware abstraction layer for a particulardevice, and so on.

Device applications 818 also include any system components, engines, ormanagers to implement attaching electronic components to interactivetextiles. In this example, device applications 818 include gesturemanager 218 and controller 604.

CONCLUSION

Although embodiments of techniques using, and objects including,attaching electronic components to interactive textiles have beendescribed in language specific to features and/or methods, it is to beunderstood that the subject of the appended claims is not necessarilylimited to the specific features or methods described. Rather, thespecific features and methods are disclosed as example implementationsof attaching electronic components to interactive textiles.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a laser; a hot plate; atleast a memory and a processor to implement a controller, the controllerconfigured to: control machinery to position an interactive textileproximate the laser, the interactive textile comprising conductivethreads woven into the interactive textile, each conductive threadcomprising one or more flexible threads and a conductive wire; controlthe laser to apply a laser beam to the interactive textile to ablateboth fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible threads of theconductive threads, without ablating the conductive wires, therebyopening up a window in the interactive textile in which the conductivewires are exposed; position an electronic component over the exposedconductive wires in the window of the interactive textile such thatelectronic plates of the electronic component are aligned with theexposed conductive wires; and control the hot plate to apply heat to theelectronic component to cause the electronic plates of the electroniccomponent to connect to the exposed conductive wires.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein an absorption of the laser is selected to cause thelaser beam to ablate the fabric of the interactive textile and theflexible threads without ablating the conductive wires.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the electronic plates of the electronic component areprepped with solder, and wherein the controller is configured to controlthe hot plate to apply heat to the electronic component to cause thesolder to melt and connect to the exposed conductive wires.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:position connection tape over the exposed conductive wires in the windowof the interactive textile, the connection tape configured withelectrical pads pre-tinned with solder and with a heat-activatedadhesive; and wherein the controller is configured to control the hotplate to apply heat to the electronic component to cause the solder tomelt and connect to the exposed conductive wire and to cause theheat-activated adhesive to form a mechanical connection between theexposed conductive wires and the electronic component.
 5. A systemcomprising: a heating element; a hot plate; at least a memory and aprocessor to implement a controller, the controller configured to:control machinery to position an interactive textile proximate the hotplate, the interactive textile comprising conductive threads woven intothe interactive textile, each conductive thread comprising one or moreflexible threads and a conductive wire; control the heating element toburn or melt both fabric of the interactive textile and the flexiblethreads of the conductive threads, without burning or melting theconductive wires, thereby opening up a window in the interactive textilein which the conductive wires are exposed; position an electroniccomponent over the exposed conductive wires in the window of theinteractive textile such that electronic plates of the electroniccomponent are aligned with the exposed conductive wires; and control thehot plate to apply heat to the electronic component to cause theelectronic plates of the electronic component to connect to the exposedconductive wires.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein a temperature of theheating element is configured to melt or burn the fabric of theinteractive textile and the flexible thread without melting or burningthe conductive wire.
 7. The system of claim 5, wherein the electronicplates of the electronic component are prepped with solder, and whereinthe controller is configured to control the hot plate to apply heat tothe electronic component to cause the solder to melt and connect to theexposed conductive wires.
 8. The system of claim 5, wherein thecontroller is further configured to: position connection tape over theexposed conductive wires in the window of the interactive textile, theconnection tape configured with electrical pads pre-tinned with solderand with a heat-activated adhesive; and wherein the controller isconfigured to control the hot plate to apply heat to the electroniccomponent to cause the solder to melt and connect to the exposedconductive wire and to cause the heat-activated adhesive to form amechanical connection between the exposed conductive wires and theelectronic component.